to the children of this family as their elder brother that we here consider him. Such was his compassion for them, such his love to them, that he voluntarily became a man, and wept and bled and died, to restore them to their original innocence, and entitle them to the joys of heaven. As the children were partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself took part of the same a. Although, being in the form of God, he thought it not robbery to be equal with God, yet he took upon him the form of a servant, was made in the likeness of men, and being found in fashion as a man, humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Wherefore God hath highly exalted him, and given him a name above every name b. He rose from the dead, ascended in that very nature he had assumed up into heaven, and there displays his mediatorial glories to the view of ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands whom he has redeemed by his blood, and who all join in ascribing blessing, honour, glory, and power unto him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb for ever and ever c. What unutterable joy must this happy company feel, while their wondering eyes are thus entertained with the lively memorials of their elder brother's unexampled compassion and love!

There too the Holy Spirit, the Comforter, who proceeds from the Father and the Son d, dwells.-That divine Spirit who descended upon the Saviour at his baptism in a bodily shape like a dove e, and who poured such a rich variety of gifts and graces upon the apostles quickly after their master's triumphant ascent up into heaven f. There, I say, he dwells, irradiating the minds of the blessed, uniting their hearts to God and each other, and diffusing the fragrant odours of his grace through all the house. Under his auspicious influence, descending like the precious ointment on the head of Aaron, or like the dew on the mountains of Sion, the fruits of knowledge, purity and friendship, are ripened to the noblest perfection, and enjoyed with increasing flavour and delight to all eternity.

The children of the family come next to be considered. Angels are thus described in Scripture: but, that we may the better conform to the figure in our text, we will confine the

a Heb. ii. 14.

d John xv. 26.

b Phil. ii. 69.

c Luke iii. 22.

c Rev. v. 9, 11, 13.

f Acts ii. 1-20.

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character of children here to the redeemed from among men; and the rather, as our Saviour had them chiefly in his eye. These not only received in common with others their existence from God, the Former of their bodies, and the Father of their spirits; but all the rights and privileges, and all the powers and capacities peculiar to children. They had wandered from their Father's house, and spent their substance in a strange land; but by the mediation of Christ their elder brother, and the gracious influence of the Holy Spirit, they were brought back to his church here on earth, the nursery or school he has appointed for the purpose of training and preparing his young children for the employments and pleasures of heaven. And from thence at the proper time they are removed, and united to the general assembly and church of the first-born above. The family is not indeed at present made up, the children are not all collected together. But when that happy period shall arrive, what an immensely numerous and illustrious company will this be!-A company consisting of patriarchs, prophets, apostles, martyrs, confessors, and all the excellent of the earth: men of God who had existed in all ages and parts of the world, and under various dispensations, characters, and descriptions; who were once struggling with the incapacities, prejudices, and painful feelings of infancy and childhood; but are now arrived at man's estate, and possessed of abilities equal to the noblest exertions, and the most sublime gratifications. Once immersed in darkness, sin, and sorrow; but now exulting in the enjoyment of light, purity, and happiness. All illuminated by the same divine Spirit, and actuated by the same heavenly principle. All of one mind and one heart, united to God their Father, and to each other as brethren, by the indissoluble bands of the most perfect friendship, and the most generous love.— Such are the children of the family.

And if the holy angels, agreeably to the figure we have adopted may be considered as the servants of this princely household; nothing can be wanting to add dignity and glory to it. Yes, they are the servants of the great King, nor do they look upon it as beneath them to minister, at his command, to the heirs of salvation a When he sent them on this errand to our world,

a Heb. i. 14.

they clapped their wings for joy, they instantly took their downward flight, and with rapture sung, Glory to God in the highest, on earth peace, and good-will towards men below a. They -friendly spirits! watch around the tents of good men during their stay on earth, guard them with their flaming shields from the powers of darkness, bear them hence at death to the bosom of their Father, wipe the falling tear of mortality from their eyes, array them in the princely robes appointed them, bid them welcome to their long-wished for home, and are never weary of rendering them every possible office of kindness and love through an endless duration of existence.-Of such Members is the heavenly family composed.

The next question is, How they are employed, and what are their pleasures? But this enquiry, with what follows, we must refer to the next Sermon.

PART II.

We have considered the House which the blessed God has built, for the reception and entertainment of his family; and the Members of which it consists. Let us now proceed,

III. To enquire, how they are employed and what are their pleasures?

Action is necessary to enjoyment. The not exerting our powers is an occasion of misery as well as our abusing them. It is not, therefore, the depraved and profligate only that are unhappy, but the thoughtless and indolent. We cannot, indeed, in the present life exert our faculties to their full extent, without feeling more or less pain and weariness. God has however wisely so ordered it, that the good proposed shall compensate the fatigue endured in the acquisition of it. And this consideration operates very generally on mankind, to rouse them from sloth, and stimulate them to action. But in heaven the powers of nature, restored to their full vigour, exert themselves to the utmost without any fatigue or uneasiness. So the end of our existence will be attained in the most pleasing manner, and we become completely happy.

Now to apply this reasoning to that domestic idea of heaven we have adopted. The pleasures of the family are usually con

a Luke ii. 14.

But this rest does not

if it did we should not

trasted to the hurries and fatigues of business, and so we conceive of our house as a place of rest. consist in a total cessation from action: be happy. It is true we here repose ourselves, and by food and sleep here recruit our animal spirits. But we do not pass all our time in indolence. We have our several employments; this and that active service to render one another, and the business of amusing and improving our minds by meditation, reading, and familiar discourse. The retirement of a house is favourable to study, and the piety, good-sense, and friendly dispositions of the several branches of a family are noble incentives to conversation. Occupied with these pleasing ideas of domestic employment, how cheerfully does the man of business in the evening of the day retire to his habitation! What joy does he feel to find himself encircled by his family, partaking with them of the bounties of indulgent Providence, and enjoying with them in perfect ease and tranquillity, the enlivening pleasures of social intercourse!

Thus may we conceive of heaven. At the evening of the day—the hurrying, fatiguing, troublesome day of human life— the good man retires to his home, his Father's house, the mansion which Christ his elder brother has prepared for him. There he ceases from his labours, rests in the bosom of his God, and has no other recollection of his past pains, disappointments, and sorrows, than contributes to increase his happiness, and heighten his joys. There he finds himself instantly surrounded with that blessed company we have been speaking of; all expressing by their cheerful smiles the satisfaction they feel in his having joined them, and all with infinite cordiality tendering him offices of love, too numerous to be reckoned, too substantial and glorious to be described. And there, which is the main thing we have in view, his intellectual powers are employed, without embarrassment or weariness, in the contemplation and discussion of the most pleasing, noble, and improving subjects.

Here, would our time admit, and might imagination be allowed its full scope, with what pleasant scenes might we feast our eyes, with what ravishing discourse delight our ears! Methinks I see this happy family, assembled in the fair and stately mansion their Father has erected for their eternal abode, arrayed in

the pure and splendid garments of immortality, health, peace, and joy, blooming on their countenances, their Friend and Saviour bidding them welcome to the richest banquet his love could prepare, angels waiting on them, and the Master of the house unveiling his glories to their view. Methinks I hear their discourse. The subject is immensely grand-the glories of the ever-blessed God displayed in his works. They have powers for investigating the subject. Their attention is fixed with increasing delight to it. Every step they advance in their enquiries about it, is marked with precision and certainty. The heavenly vision glorious as it is oppresses not their mental sight: the ecstatic joy it affords disturbs not their perception of the object. Their ideas and reasonings are interchanged with unimaginable swiftness and facility. And the pleasures which flow in one perpetual stream from the inexhaustible fountain of knowledge, are common to them all.

The theme hath infinite varieties, each of which is a new source of admiration, love, and delight.-Now they fix their eye on the first great Cause of all things, whose nature the brightest intelligences cannot comprehend, whose essence no created imagination can explore. They gaze on his glories, which surprise, but do not confound: inspire reverence, but forbid fear. From him they turn their attention to the works of his hands. Now the skill of the great architect in the house built for their residence, its furniture, and entertainment, employs their contemplation: and then the wonderous effects of his wisdom and power in the more remote provinces of his boundless empire.-Now they dwell on the nature, capacities, and interests of the various orders of beings that hold a different rank in the creation from themselves; and then on their own nature, faculties, laws, and ends of existence.-Now the scheme of Providence respecting the world whence they came, occupies their minds; states, kingdoms, and empires passing in review before their astonished eyes: and then the long, the diversified, the entertaining detail of each other's history holds their attention with growing delight.-Now they call over the several events that happened to them, from the moment they came into existence to that of their translation thither; and all the circumstances that combined, under the controlling influence